Han Yi Xuan is a postgraduate fashion student who came to France from Taipei in 2001 seeking to forge a career in “La Mode” and receive collaborative guidance at the throbbing heart of the “department store capital of fashion."

After six years of higher study and accumulating a plethora of Master’s degrees, certificates and practical training programs, she eeked herself into the starched selection process for the Postgrad Fashion Management course at prestigious (‘employment guaranteed!’) Institut Français de la Mode, a Hausmanian mansion anchored just off the Seine’s right bank in Paris’ “Golden Mile” of design; that poised, upbeat area around the Trocadero where trends are set on a per-minute basis, every bit as imperceptibly as the CRS (French riot police) clear homeless tents in the early morning from along the misty moorings of chic Canal St. Martin

trends are set on a per-minute basis, every bit as imperceptibly as the CRS (French riot police) clear homeless tents in the early morning from along the misty moorings of chic Canal St. Martin

The Institut Français de la Mode belongs indeed to the same elite, candidly glazed, publicly cosseted spire of Higher Learning which yields the near-entirety of France’s political community and supplies the country’s economy with its Captains of Industry, in a bid to perpetuate those giddy values of Bourgeoisie in spite of the tiresome, temporary tides of socialism, capitalism, industrial revolution, and the information economy... etc. etc. ...

Having followed the IFM’s illustrious program, Han undertook a rigorous, several-month, search for an internship position, and finally secured one at leading international fashion house Barbara Mui.

In this rôle, Han is in charge of Visual Merchandising at all three of Mui’s prime location Paris stores, including the flagship property in Rue du Faubourg St Honoré, Paris’ Bond Street.

Han hopes, albeit without guarantees, to move on to a junior management position within the company on graduation.

A pair of the company’s branded shoes costs an average of € 500 ($682).

In her creative-organizational capacity, and under special legal provisions, Han’s monthly pre-tax salary amounts to one full quarter of the national minimum wage (itself around €1400, $1911 – again, now divide by 4 to get the actual gross wage). But after all, she is only a trainee. She has further been unable, after repeated oral and written attempts, to procure any kind of legal contract or formal documentation legitimizing her position with the company.

Yi Xuan’s net wage would only pay for a small, sketchy room in a hostile suburban location, without doubt devoid of sanitary facilities, and sine clinking change left for frivolities such as food, heliports, or the designer clothing the company insists she wears on a daily basis.

Says a source within the Barbara Mui Paris head-office, on condition of anonymity, “Things here in Paris are really on the slide. People are living on top of each other in tiny, damp confines with outdated amenities, but more than anything they aim to keep up appearances. Parisians would rather buy smart shoes and sport the latest hairstyles, than eat healthy food or go on a foreign vacation. The flood water is up to the neck, but everyone is still smiling, with designer lipstick

The flood water is up to the neck, but everyone is still smiling, with designer lipstick

Yi Xuan need not worry too much, though. If she doesn’t have sufficient resources (after the government has slipped its hand from her pocket) to heat her room during the Parisian winter, she can defrost her stiletto toes to the now more-than-familiar seasonal halo of burning cars.

(c) Martin Lowe 2007